From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,3cd3b8571c28b75f X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-08-27 03:00:37 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: Dave Head Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: A Customer's Request For Open Source Software Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 06:05:12 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: Reply-To: Rally2nospamxs@earthlink.net References: <3F44BC65.4020203@noplace.com> <3F460D73.7090801@noplace.com> <20030822153839.5ec5c918.david@realityrift.com> <20030822184004.7e8c53bf.david@realityrift.com> <3F4769A7.6020503@noplace.com> <4Jy2b.939$zL2.310@nwrdny01.gnilink.net> <3F4B57D7.8070702@noplace.com> X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.93/32.576 English (American) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:41884 Date: 2003-08-27T06:05:12-04:00 List-Id: This is correct. Anything that doesn't have a transfer of money or other consideration has no incentive for the provider to be concerned with the consumer's satisfaction. Its like socialized medicine. Anyone can get a taste of that if they join the military. I was about as sick as I'd ever been, fever, etc. and went to the doctor in Ft. Monmouth, NJ. Got aspirin, nothing else. Now, it may have been a virus and there was no real treatment for it, but they didn't bother to explain that. That's the real difference. Like all other "free" services, or goods, that was not a concern of theirs. Dave Head On Tue, 26 Aug 2003 12:51:44 GMT, Marin David Condic wrote: >Yes, user interface is important. But also a lot of other usability >factors. Many "Open Source" things out there might have some marvelous >functionality but you have to download them, then all the pieces they >rely on and maybe you have to compile them. Perhaps you then discover >there are subtle differences in your system versus the author's system >and you're trying to figure out what switch settings or environment >variables you have to tweak, etc. > >Whereas with a typical application bought from a commercial company, one >expects to insert the disk, click on "Install", answer "Yes" to >everything and see the app come up and work. It had better have either >really easy to understand features on its face or it had better have >really good documentation - or both. If it doesn't look good in these >and other respects, the company will be out of business soon. Whereas >your typical freebie download "Open Source" project can easily afford to >say "If you don't like it, go pile sand! I'm a *volunteer* and you're >getting it *free*." > >That's basically what I meant about an "Open Source" project needing to >meet up with certain quality expectations people will have in the >business world. Not all Open Source projects are going to be a pile of >defication and not all commercial products are going to be amazing >wonders. But if one wants to make an Open Source product that is going >to draw users away from shrink-wrapped packages from commercial vendors, >one had better look at the market's expectations and what the >competition is doing *right* in meeting with them. > >Commercial software users are not "geeks". They don't find great >pleasure in tinkering with an app or marveling at how wonderfully it was >constructed internally. They want to take it out of the box and use it >to get a job done. That's what "Open Source" has to deal with if it >wants to overcome Microsoft's market dominance. > > >MDC > > >Stephane Richard wrote: >> >> And to that, I have to agree. A good user interface (in today's business >> world) is just as important than good functionality. Let's face it, >> business users today just dont want to have to do Shift-Ctrl-Alt-F4 to get >> something to print. they wanna click the file menu, then print. Or they >> want to push that little button with the Printer drawn on it. It's been my >> professional experiences. Some hard core users like to have that complicate >> key combo.